Outdoors staff lose pay case

AUTHORITIES IN the former Strathclyde Region have won the latest round in the equal pay cases they have been contesting for most of the decade. An employment tribunal has ruled against claims by principals and depute principals in outdoor centres that they should be paid as headteachers and assistant heads.

The cases go back to 1994 and the hearings are the second longest in Scottish employment tribunal history. Linda Marsh, the Strathclyde official retained to represent the interests of the new authorities, said the employers had now won every case brought against them.

The claims referred to the period from 1990 to 1993 and would have cost up to pound;7 million had they been upheld. The tribunal, which relied on a Lords judgment in a case brought by unpromoted women teachers doing a principal teacher's job, did not find that there had been discrimination but, importantly, refused to accept the former region's case that the outdoor staff were not doing the same work as school heads.

The authorities still face a case by South Ayrshire primary heads where comparability with the work of secondary heads will be the issue.

Rob McKenzie, solicitor for the outdoor centre staff, said an appeal was very likely.

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